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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1998)
uesday • January 27, 1998 The Battalion ENDERSCOPE Tel A/omen’s struggles not limited to United States, Europe ^^Ivery year, the media ap- [ or M plaud women musicians hnc Jfor the great strides they l lf ve made in the rock 'n' roll wrld. Columnists print articles “noimcing “The Year of Women c I Caleb McDaniel columnist ■e Grammy Awards join in 3 chorus by decorating women im Celine Dion to Alanis Mor- ette with the highest honors 3 music industry can bestow, fj. ie Spice Girls, arguably the ly fcpices in the world that are L mpletely tasteless, gallivant across the globe reading “Girl Power.” And women’s rights activists q$ uaie the success of female entertainers with the I ccess of their movement. Bui think about this. Last year, while Gwen Stefani Doned “I’m Just a Girl,” Paula Cole wondered where 3 cowboys went and Lilith Fair stormed across the unjtry, women in Turkey were being legally beaten S thfeir husbands. Only two weeks ago, the Turkish parliament ssed the country’s first law against domestic vio- ice. And the law barely passed because the wife- atihg lobby worked overtime. Islamists in the leg- ature opposed the measure because they believed I - tcking down on spousal abuse would undermine pily harmony. The mostly male parliament had pi- 'Ulonfholed the law for almost two years, and only i concerted efforts of secular women’s rights 'bups made the law possible. ||.p’ Or consider this. While Meredith Brooks enjoyed M os surprising success of her mediocre music, Ellen - 3 Generes got her way and Lisa Loeb worked on the I ease of her second album, women in Afghanistan |t tie ;re not allowed to leave their houses unless escort- \IFi by a male relative. The troubled Afghan govern- ItorK ment has also forbidden foreign-aid agencies from directly assisting females. According to a report from CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, “Today Afghan women cannot even expect proper medical care.” In September, a government order banned female patients from all of the main hospitals in the capi tal city. After return ing from an Octo ber visit to Afghanistan, Amanpour re ported that “sick women are being sent to a crumbling old building that has no windowpanes, no running wa ter, no proper operating room and barely enough electric ity to power light bulbs.” In other words, as Amer icans self-right- eously celebrate the recognition of women in the entertainment industry, many women in the world are still struggling for Y>n basic human rights, much less Grammy nomina tions. Of course, the success of female rockers is no small thing. But there is an increasing danger of commercializ ing the women’s-rights movement by exalting women like the Spice Girls or Mered ith Brooks as the princesses of “Girl Power.” Op pressed women need more than cute slogans and pop songs. The Spice Girls complain their identities as women have been re pressed be cause a cold, prudish world frowns on the fact their dresses look more like long blous es. Boo-hoo. Meanwhile, Afghan women can not even wear white socks be cause they are thought to be too sexually alluring. The point is this: There are serious problems fac ing women around the world, and they require seri ous solutions. Even under Uncle Sam’s roof, the struggle for women’s rights is far from over. Every 15 seconds, an American woman is beaten by her hus band or boyfriend. Every 45 seconds, an American woman is sexually assaulted. These women need help. They are the victims here — not the Spice Girls. So let us stop speaking of how Lilith Fair has finally liberated women and has proven once and for all the girls can rock better than the boys. Let the press stop acting as if Baby Spice were the reincarnation of Su san B. Anthony herself. There is no time for such car icatures of the crusade for women’s rights. Women in Afghanistan are being operated on in buildings with out running water. These are genuinely oppressed women who need genuine compassion. The women’s movement has accomplished an in credible amount in the United States. Women have be come a powerful voting block and women’s groups have established themselves as important political lobbyists. The Secretary of State and the Attorney Gen eral are both women. According to census statistics, women own one-third of American businesses, and the growth of woman-owned businesses is greater than the national average in all fifty states. Women are more active in the work force than ever before. But society cannot be satisfied with these ad vances. People cannot conscientiously turn their at tention to fighting for the rights of female Grammy nominees while women around the world are still struggling for basic civil liberties. The women’s move ment is too important to be trivialized by bad music. There is much work to be done, Spice Girls, and “Girl Power” isn’t going to work. “Human Power” and “God’s Power” are needed to seriously and soberly better the lives of women everywhere. Caleb McDaniel is a freshman history major. Ijones 1 disci! ERSPECTIVES )eath of child crosses line f weight, becomes neglect Manisha Parekh columnist he Mill wf jk Then bee /\/ Christina e Be f V Corrigan :d on Nov. 19, f,’ Ic96| her body was ind lying naked on Mas i living room floor, [hiniif rounded by emp- es isfoqd containers, knd The room reeked i deiurine. Feces was kio' ind in the folds of |d be r flesh and her udies dy was covered in be if' en bedsores. The coroner found evidence <forht insects had been feeding on flesh, sit gi lt’s hard to imagine that anyone could de- id Marlene Corrigan’s treatment of Id c ristina. But when Corrigan was brought jid I on charges of felony child endanger- or hUnt, supporters rallied around her, claim- netolj Corrigan was not to blame for the condi- |nk n her child lived in. lid. See, one thing separated the case of [inter ristina Corrigan from other cases of ne- coatfet and abuse. At the age of 13, Christina [CIA: s 5’3” and weighed 680 pounds, tec And the self-proclaimed “fats rights” ft tups that banded together to support br Ga irlene Corrigan announced that the issue ia trial was not Christina’s death, but nave ristina’s weight. witb “It’s not a crime to be fat and it’s not a to me to have a fat child,” said Marilyn Wann, [t, tlirbtor of FatlSo?, a fats rights magazine, i GrfYes, it’s not a crime to be fat or to have a |5 sf child. However, it is a crime to allow a [ed b id to live in conditions that would not be pernor a dog. It is a crime to allow a child to corVe open, untreated wounds, some of leW Uch are months old. It is a crime to allow a jjerry Id, who is in obvious need of medical favre p, to avoid going to see a doctor for four |/edsTrs. 3 wis It seems ironic that groups who are so s w fadfast about gaining acceptance for at sb :rweight people and trying to get society [istabmok past a person’s weight are the ones I abo^o are making the biggest fuss about [lass lghi. This is not a case about weight, it is a |jt a^e about neglect. But the fats rights activists have found /iev^mselves a poster child, and hell hath no ; anciby like an activist group that has found a ge e to plead. It is useless to point out that yea se groups are undermining their own ;lie f lse by promoting Marlene Corrigan, a B#man who did almost nothing to take care ills ner child. r udei The fats rights activists claim that they e bl* on solid ground in defending Corrigan. NFL rents might now start pressuring their 5 y, R 8 s even more, because they are afraid they 0^ are going to get sent to jail if their kids get too fat,” claims Judy Freespirit of the Nation al Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. It is highly doubtful that a single judge in this country would send a parent to jail for having an overweight child. What is more likely is a parent being sent jail for leaving a child “lying in her own filth.” According to Detective Don Horgan of the El Cerrito Po lice Department, that was exactly how Christina was found. But the activists still refuse to see the ac tual matter at hand. “There are things that she is not guilty of that she is being prosecuted for, like being responsible for a child who weighed 680 pounds,” said Freespirit. Funny thing is, that is precisely the rea son Corrigan is being prosecuted: because she wasn’t being responsible for a child who weighed 680 pounds. At every turn, Marlene Corrigan showed that she was not going take responsibility for her child and that she was not going to look out for Christina’s well-being. When Christina refused to go and see the doctor, despite the fact that it had been four years since her last visit, what did Mar lene Corrigan do? Nothing. She let Christi na have her way. When Christina constantly demanded more and more food, did Marlene Corrigan try to get her child to eat sensibly? No, she gave in and let Christina have her way. Cor rigan hoped that Christina would decide to stop eating so much on her own. And what about the food containers and the waste that Christina lived in? Michael Cardoza, Corrigan’s lawyer, defended her in action by saying the following: “Adolescents are not neat. What was her mother sup posed to do, be her kid’s maid?” Oh, yes, heaven forbid that Marlene Corri gan should try and keep her daughter in a clean environment. Heaven forbid that she should actually, for once, act like a parent. So, if the fats rights groups claim that Christina’s death was Corrigan’s fault, who’s was it? According to Freespirit, the schools are guilty, the medical establishment is guilty, and society is guilty; Marlene Corrig an, just like her daughter, is simply a victim. But how many responsible parents would allow their child to choose when and how much he or she wants to eat and whether he or she wants to go to the doctor? None. The only thing Marlene Corrigan is a victim of is her own inaction and irrespon sibility. And Christina was the one who paid the price. Manisha Parekh is a sophomore psychology and journalism major. STATE OF THE UNION Presidency should not protect if criminal actions are discovered Donny Ferguson columnist I n Oliver Stone’s Nixon, the embattled president reminds his advisers it is not the crime, but “it’s the lie that gets you.” Twenty-three years later, the specter of perjury again looms over a troubled presidency. At the center of Bill Clinton’s most serious crisis are charges he urged a former White House intern to lie about an affair to attorneys in Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit. If they are true, the Clinton Administration's five-year flirtation with impeachment could end in the president’s disgraceful removal from office. Clinton could face charges of suborning to perjury and ob struction of justice, both of which are impeachable offenses. If the allegations are true and he pressured a young intern to lie about their affair in a sworn deposition, the House Judicia ry Committee should draw up articles of impeachment and the Senate should remove Clinton from office. • THE NATURE OF THE CHARGES In a Jan. 7 sworn statement in Paula Jones’ lawsuit against Clinton, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky denied she and the president had a sexual relationship. However, in a secretly taped conversation six days later, she talked at length about she and Clinton’ engaged in oral sex and explicit phone conversations, and how he pressured her to lie under oath about it. In the 20 hours of tape, she told her friend, equipped with a hidden microphone, how Clinton told her, “There is no evi dence, so you can deny, deny, deny,” and that Washington lawyer Vernon Jones would help her craft a plausible affidavit. Interestingly enough, Jones is accused of similar allegations involving Whitewater figure Webster Hubbell. Clinton’s private relations with Lewinsky, if any, are not the issue. The issue is whether or not Clinton instructed Lewinsky to lie under oath in a sworn deposition involving a lawsuit against him. If he did so, he could be found guilty of suborning to per jury and obstruction of justice. Unlike the campaign fundraising and FBI file scandals, these charges are leveled directly at Clinton, not a litany of Democratic figures. Unlike Whitewater and Gennifer Flow ers, these charges involve a crime committed while in office. Unlike the other scandals, these charges are not being pur sued by Republican politicians, but by the FBI and an inde pendent prosecutor. And unlike the other scandals, a power ful boss strong-arming a young intern to lie to attorneys about sexual liaisons is easily understood by the public, and more easily prosecuted. • THE EVIDENCE AGAINST CLINTON In the Lewinsky tapes, the former intern tells her friend about her fear that independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr’s lawyers would find out about the gifts and trinkets given to her by Clinton. Among them are a dress and a photograph bearing an intimate inscription, uncommon gifts for an un paid intern. According to one source close to the investigation, after one sexual encounter, Clinton’s semen stained Lewinsky’s dress, which she saved as a “souvenir.” If the stained dress ex ists, and if forensic experts can link it to Clinton, there may be enough evidence for an indictment, or impeachment. Among the other items sought as evidence in the investi gation are White House logs and employment records. White House interns often only see the President once, at the annu al photo op. Lewinsky, however, reportedly had frequent ac cess to Clinton and was issued a “blue pass,” giving her access to the White House, and Clinton. Two sources told CNN she frequently visited the West Wing, often late at night and usually signed in saying she was visiting Clinton’s secretary, Betty Currie. One of the sources reports she was almost always alone and often at the White House well past midnight. Such high-level and frequent ac cess is unheard of among interns. Once source also tells CNN Lewinsky was “mesmerized” by Clinton and frequented the West Wing where, “she would bump into him.” Other sources describe her “slight crush” on Clinton and corroborated she and Clinton did have some form of a personal relationship. Whether it was sexual has yet to be proven. • CONGRESS HAS AN OBLIGATION TO IMPEACH If the claims made by Lewinsky are indeed true, Congress must impeach Clinton. Suborning to perjury and obstruction of justice are serious crimes which must be punished. After five years of what many see as illegal activities by Clinton, concrete evidence of a crime committed while in office may exist. If he did pres sure Lewinsky to lie about their affair, if it ever exists, it under mines his credibility, damages his job performance and de rails the business of the nation. In the Watergate affair, Richard Nixon realized a convicted felon could not lead the nation. Rather than force Americans through the pain of impeachment proceedings, he resigned from office. If Clinton is guilty of obstruction of justice, he should take the moral high road and resign from office. Unlike the other scandals, if the charges are proven, they will destroy his base of support in Congress. Democrats are wary of Clinton’s political future and certainly will not sup port the agenda of a criminal, for it will drag the party down with him. As former Clinton chief of staff, Leon Panetta, said, “You’re dealing with a Congress that is likely to move against him in the Judiciary Committee. And unless he’s got a clear resolu tion of this matter, Congress itself is going to be paralyzed.” With important issues like education funding, tax cuts and Medicare reform on the agenda, the business of the nation will be seriously damaged if it is controlled by a politically dead president. If Lewinsky’s allegations Clinton urged her to lie under oath are true, Congress must remove him from office and al low the national agenda to move forward. To vote against im peachment in the case the charges are proven would place personal political ties ahead of the good of the nation. Richard Nixon stepped down because Republicans would not support their president in the event he was linked to Wa tergate break-ins. If Monica Lewinsky’s claims about Bill Clin ton are true, all lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, must remove him from office. If he obstructed justice, the matter is not one of liberal vs. conservative or President Gore vs. no President Gore. The impeachment and removal of President Clinton, in the event the charges are true, should be one of what is right for the nation. Donny Ferguson is a junior political science major.